but should the government not meet that commitment, in my mind that would mean the end of this government. >> reporter: the protest was brief. it was all over within a couple of hours but there are many difficult votes ahead here in the greek parliament and no one expects that to have been the end of the trouble. >> ifill: the violence in athens came hours after police and demonstrators fought in the streets of madrid, spain. on tuesday evening, 6,000 people marched on the national parliament building, protesting new austerity measures. some threw rocks and bottles, and police fired rubber bullets. 38 people were arrested. the scenes of unrest roiled european markets, and major indexes there fell one to two percent today. for more on the economics and the politics at play in europe. i'm joined by jacob kirkegaard of the peterson institute of international economics. mr. kirkegaard, it seems to me that we have spent a great deal of time talking about this unrest in europe and there had been a lull. what happened? >> well, i think we need to keep in mind that the violence we saw today-- or